Students will receive a 30 minute guided tour of the Challenger facility and learn about the history of the space program and get to hold a meteorite. They will then receive a demonstration using liquid nitrogen. This “cool” presentation will give students an idea of how cold space is in an educational and entertaining way.
Rendezvous with a Comet (9am-11am)
Team members work as scientists and engineers heading to rendezvous with a comet as part of the continued study of our Solar System. Rendezvous missions are critical in helping scientists verify and better understand data collected by other missions currently occurring, such as STARDUST and its capture of material from the coma of Comet Wild-2 in 2004 and the return of that material to Earth in 2006. Actual samples provided by STARDUST establish baseline data on comets that are used for future explorations.
Voyage to Mars (11am-1pm)
The Mars control team chooses the entry and departure trajectories before the landing and lift-off of the Mars Transport Vehicle. The crew on the Mars Transport Vehicle is tasked with building and launching a probe to one of the two moons of Mars. The crew is given information about Phobos and Deimos during the mid-brief portion of the mission, and will base their decisions on facts and data presented at this time. Both the relief crew and the planet-based crew are under tight deadlines to gather important data and communicate information to the teams, the Mars Transport Vehicle, and Mars base. The crew also gains an appreciation for the “luxuries” of planet Earth – such as air, water and food – as compared to a barren planet such as Mars.
Tour and Nitrogen show (All ages)
Space Place (Pre-K – K)
This workshop focuses on the eight planets in our solar system. Through the use of books and hands-on creative activities, students explore what it takes to be an astronaut. They will then have a chance to launch a rocket as they continue to explore space and the solar system in which we live.
Solar system and Beyond (1st – 2nd Grade)
Students learn about each of the planets in the solar system using our 4 billion to 1 scale solar system. They learn about light and energy and how scientists identify the different gasses from our Sun and other stars. Finally, they have a blast as they create their own rockets and launch them in the classroom.
NEO landing (3rd – 5th Grade)
NASA is entering a new era of human space exploration. By 2025, NASA scientists plan to send an astronaut to a Near-Earth Object (NEO) as a springboard to future Mars missions. A NEO voyage will take three to six months and cover five million miles. Today’s students who learn how to live and work on these extended NEO journeys are the space travelers of tomorrow. Excite your students about the possibilities of space exploration with this program designed in accordance with Arizona’s 3rd-5th grade standards.
Apollo 13 scrubber (6th – 8th Grade)
Experience the tension of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission as your students take on the roles of Mission Control engineers, trying to figure out how to clean the air in the capsule before the astronauts suffocate. Student teams research, design and build model air scrubber filter units using only the few materials available to the astronauts. They then test their designs on a mockup of the air circulation unit from the Apollo spacecraft.
Simulated Missions (5th-8th Grade)
If you are interested in registering, you can do so here:
Home school day
WednesDay, December 14th, 2016
Workshops
Pre-K to Grade 8